FRENCH AIR FORCE

REARMAMENT & THE BATTLE OF FRANCE

France entered Second World War while still suffering the effects of the First. Out-thought as much as out-fought, the Armée de L’Air was left ill-equipped in both mindset and aircraft

France had been exhausted by the First World War, and the economic resources and political will were lacking to spend money on military equipment in the 1920s and early 1930s. By the mid-1930s, when the threat from Germany became obvious, the French military and aircraft industry were in a very poor state. Rapid modernisation would prove to be too little, too late.

The Armée de L’Air was formed from the Aéronautique Militaire as an independent air arm in 1934, but it continued to suffer from doctrinal, political and economic problems. Rapid changes in government created little continuity in policy and priorities, leading to problems with funding. Corners were cut with the use of multi-role aircraft intended for adaptation to a range of different capabilities, although inevitably such aircraft became a mess of compromises and fell short in all tasks. Only in 1936 did the need to rearm spark development of effective modern aircraft, in particular fighters, such as the Morane Saulnier MS406 and Dewoitine D520. Even then the tendency was to cut corners, with aircraft like the Potez 630 twin-engined fighter being built with one eye on producing bomber and reconnaissance variants.

However, the aircraft industry was in no fit state to produce modern aircraft. It was still largely a cottage industry, based around small companies with workshops staffed by highly skilled craftsmen. Lack of government funding meant that most aircraft were built in small production runs, and larger factories were not needed. For rearmament to start, two years of effort were needed just to prepare the industry for the task. This process was marred by continual changes in government, constant friction with trade unions and by lack of funding as the French military prioritised the construction of the Maginot Line along their border with

Germany. Some of these issues could have been circumvented by purchasing foreign aircraft, and indeed small numbers were ordered from overseas, but again the trade unions interceded with the socialist governments to prevent, as they saw it, work being denied to their own members.

As war loomed, the situation worsened. While production had increased rapidly, from 40 aircraft per month in December 1938 to 300 in December 1939, it still took 18,000 man-hours to build a Dewoitine D520, against the 5,000 it took the Germans to build the comparable Messerschmitt Bf 109. On the outbreak of war conscription further hampered efforts. With no system of reserved occupations as used by other countries, skilled workers were called away from the factories to spend long month